The Proper Date
by sdara1
Summary: Castle realizes he has never taken Beckett on what he considers a "proper" date. Set season 5, no spoilers.
1. Chapter 1

Kate Beckett sat at her desk. It was Friday afternoon. With no case, today had just been a paperwork day, a day to get caught up. Of course, with Castle there, catching up was next to impossible. He sat in his usual chair right next to her desk staring at her. Every now and then, Kate would look out of the corner of her eye to find him still looking at her, but not really looking at her. He looked like he was thinking and had just zoned out looking at her face.

"Castle!" Kate snapped in a much more Beckett manner.

That got is attention. He snapped right out of the little trance he had slipped into. "Huh?" He asked, completely unaware of his staring.

"You've been staring at me for the past twenty minutes," Kate lowered her voice so her captain wouldn't hear, "and I don't care if we're dating, it's still creepy."

"Sorry," he responded.

It was too simple. If the past five years had taught her anything it was that nothing was that simple with Richard Castle, the man who always had a mob hit or CIA conspiracy theory to share with her.

"Castle, is everything ok?"

"You know what I just realized?"

Now she was even more confused, and maybe starting to think she shouldn't have snapped him out of his thoughts since she was definitely not going to get paperwork done with him talking. "What the hell," she said as the leaned back in her chair, ready for some outrageous story he was probably going to tell her, "it's Friday, shoot."

"I have never taken you out on a proper date."

Kate thought long and hard about this. Well sure they had never been on an "official" date, but there were dinners at their apartments, nights in bed together, times spent with their families…

"You took me to the Hamptons. I'm pretty sure that counts as _at least_ one date," she retorted.

"No, I mean dressing up, bringing you flowers, taking you out to an expensive dinner…"

"Why do you sound like you're going to ask me to prom?"

"Kate, I'm serious. Let me do this. It's the gentleman in me that wants to."

The _gentleman_ in him was going to make her go home and put on a dress instead of slipping into a nice hot bath and having a night cap and sleepless night with him? "And I supposed you want this to happen tonight." It wasn't even a question. She knew too well when he wanted this to happen.

"I'll pick you up at seven."

And just like that he was up and out of the precinct, getting ready for god only knows what. At least she could get some work done with him gone.

* * *

The knock at the door came at 6:57. When she went to answer it in a robe with her hair and makeup done, she made a point to make sure he knew he was early. "3 minutes," she said as she swung the door open, but instead of being greeted by a dorky smile, she was greeted by a big bouquet of flowers. When he moved the flowers, she saw the dork smile that she had expected.

"I told you I was going to bring you flowers. Now, are you going to make me stand out here for the next two and a half minutes or do I get to come in and watch you do your grand entrance in your dress?"

"Who said anything about a dress?"

But he wasn't even listening. He just pushed by her into her apartment like he always did. He maneuvered his way around her kitchen, finding a vase and scissors to prepare the flowers for her. Once he had the perfectly arranged her turned back to greet her. "You have to go get dressed now! We have reservations!"

Kate groaned, not enjoying this "in a hurry side" of Castle at all. "Can't we just stay in?! Do we really have to do this?" He nodded gleefully, and she couldn't ignore his adorableness when his inner Jack Russell Terrier came out. "Fine, give me five minutes." Castle waited patiently.

* * *

When Kate came out, he quickly got to his feet, excited to see just what Kate Beckett wore on a real date, and he was not disappointed. She came out in a slim body hugging dress that was black and strapless. Her hair was pulled up, and her makeup was applied perfectly. "Kate you look…" Stunning? Gorgeous? Flawless? While all these adjectives worked, the writer was at a loss for words. He just stood there slack jawed.

This was also the first time Kate had gotten a chance to really take in his appearance. He kept it very simple with a white button down and black pants and a black jacket. The collar of his shirt was open at the top, where she could see a little bit of his muscular chest. The chest she so badly wanted to-

No, this was the place, but not the time. He would never miss these reservations with how giddy he was for this date. "Shall we go?" He asked. She was still uncertain as to what the plans for the evening were exactly.

He took her hand, and led her out of her apartment.

What had she just gotten herself into?

TBC

* * *

**Author's Note: I just started writing, and I've never done a multi-chapter story, so bear with me! Please let me know what you think. Next update should come soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

By the time they were in the elevator she had asked four times what they were doing. Every time they were met by silence and a smirk. Two could play at that game. They stood in the elevator in silence. Neither one flinching. Castle didn't talk because he was afraid he would give the surprise away. Kate didn't talk because she was stubborn as hell. They got down stairs and into the car service he had called.

Kate was excited. There wasn't another word for it. They went to a small restaurant she had never heard of. "It's known for privacy," Castle said, when he saw the worry in her face. "No one will ever see us here."

"Good, I want it to be just the two of us."

The waiter came by and took their orders, Castle of course ordered the most expensive bottle of champagne they had.

The flirted over the food and did all the cliché things couple did on dates. She fed him bites of her food while he laughed. This was the first time he had ever seen Kate Beckett like this. He never would have expected her to be the footsy playing type, let alone the type to feed him food. He looked at her in awe, and this of course, being the expert detective she is, did not go unseen by Kate.

"What is it?" She asked, her voice dripping with flirtation.

"I just- I never thought I would get to see you in this type of a setting."

"Oh-" She didn't really know what to make of this. What exactly was he getting at? She didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing or just one of those weird Castle things where he makes her self-conscience and then feels really bad about it after he realizes what he's done.

"Oh, I just meant," she could tell by his stuttering that it was the weird Castle thing he does, the thing that she's grown to love _after_ the situation is resolved. "I just meant that, I didn't think that-"

"You know for a writer, you have an awfully hard time finding words sometimes."

"Only when I'm talking to you." That made her blush. He could be an obnoxious, immature, nine-year-old-on-a-sugar-high sometimes, but he was pretty damn sweet most of the time.

The waiter came by with check shortly after.

"What do you say we get out of here?"

"Do you have something else planned?"

"Well I was thinking we could go take a walk since it's a nice night out, maybe grab some ice cream."

"Sounds perfect."

He paid the check and they left the restaurant.

When they were out the door he put his arm around her waist and held her close. After a second of hesitation she laid her head on his shoulder. This was nice, familiar. They both loved the little moments like this. When they were simply together. Nothing was more important than these small moments.

When they reached the corner of the street, she took her head off his shoulder and stepped out of his embrace. He had a quick look of pain on his face, not wanting their moment of intimacy to end, but eventually got over it when she took his hand and started dragging him down the street. That's when he realized he had no idea where they were.

"Kate, where are we going?"

Now it was her turn to withhold information.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

"Kate? Kate, seriously, where the hell are you taking me?" Castle was so confused. Kate had not said anything in about 5 minutes and they had already been walking for what seems like forever, and to make matters worse Kate was walking much more Beckett like at her detective speed that Castle hated to keep up with.

"Castle, do you seriously not trust me?"

"It's not that I don't trust it's just that you are always armed and we're around a lot of dark secluded alleys."

A few minutes later they arrived at a place Castle knew he knew, but did not know why he knew it.

It was a play ground.

"Uh, Kate…are you trying to tell me something? Because if you're pregnant this is the worst way to tell a man, and…"

She leaned into him and shut him up with a kiss. "Why the hell would you think I'm pregnant, Castle?"

"You took me to a playground, Kate. That's where kids…play."

"Wow, another far-fetched theory, just the Castle I know and-" she didn't finish the sentence. Didn't want to ruin it. "Come on."

Kate led him to the swing set- they're swing set.

"Do you remember this place?" She wasn't really sure how to start, but she knew how to end, and that was what was important.

"Yeah, we, uh, we met here after the book signing, after your…" he didn't finish the sentence. She got the point. He knew why he knew this place now.

Kate looked down at the ground because she was so nervous. "I told you that I couldn't have the type of relationship I wanted to have until I put my mother's murder behind me." She took just another beat before continuing. "I came here before I came to see you that night too." She looked over at him making sure he knew exactly what night she was talking about. She was pretty sure he got it.

"I came here in the pouring down rain, just to…think, I guess. I have no idea why I really came here, but I needed a way to just think about you. Not think about the guy who had killed my mom, or the guy who was trying to kill me, or Gates, or anyone else. I just wanted to think about you- us."

Castle wasn't exactly sure where this little monologue was coming from, but he was going to wait her out. See if she would get to the point without him pushing.

"Cas, this was the place where I realized I had no choice, but to go over and risk my heart to get you. This was the place that I realized that I truly only wanted you."

Castle stared at her intently. She looked up, making eye contact with him. "Castle, this is the place I realized I loved you."

Castle was shocked. He was not expecting this to come tonight. He didn't really know how to respond. Of course he loves her, he told her that a year and a half ago, but he could see Kate getting serious, going off to that place she goes to every time she over thinks something, so he decided to make an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Loved? Past tense?"

"Really, Castle?! I tell you love you and you-" but he didn't let her finish. He grabbed the chains of the swing she was sitting on and pulled her in for a long passionate kiss.

Still holding on to the chain of her swing to keep her close he leaned his forehead against her's.

"I love you too, Kate."

She lightly touched her lips to his again. "Now will you do me a favor?" She asked.

"You name it. Anything."

"Take me home?"

"On our first _real_ date?! Katherine Beckett, I can't believe you would be so promiscuous-"

She pressed her lips to his again this time hard, purely to make him stop talking with a little bit of lust mixed in.

"Shut up and take me home, Castle."

"Always."

With that he got up put his jacket around her shoulders like a gentleman and pulled her up off the swing, whisking her away to a night full of passion and romance. The kind that, in his way of thinking, Kate Beckett deserved for the rest of her life. For always.

* * *

End

* * *

**So, this is the end of this story. Thank you all so much for reading! This last chapter is kind of what I hope Beckett gives Castle for Valentine's Day. (My shipper heart can dream right?!) Anyway, hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think!**


End file.
